Sailing a CD 25 when wind is 15 knots or greater

[Neil Gordon]

Don't always rely on the motor to get you back home on a windy day.

No kidding! Do you have any idea how many times we've discussed bigger and bigger motors and props in order to get home on windy days?

[Mike Oldenburg]

All the above is true.... The best thing I ever did was to go out in storm conditions and see when she'll tip. I had the spreaders in the water and she still didn't go over. That was with full sails(full main and the 150% up front. After that I could do almost anything. If its blow'n 15 -20 hank the 100% jib on and put a reef in the main at the dock if you think it'll blow harder. I added a third reef in my main. I sail on the lower Columbia river. I single hand my cd 25 in winds up to 40 knots with gusts reaching 60. Storm sailing is very fun and the cd 25 does it very well.

[neil]

Storm sailing is very fun and the cd 25 does it very well.

Yahoo Mike!
I have exactly the same attitude!

Cheers!

[barfwinkle]

Hello to all

Someone already mentioned this, but just to restate it. The best thing I ever did (to lessen my anxiety) was to crew aboard a Santana 255 during a race. The wind was blowing in excess of 30 kts and it was one hell of a ride. That day I learned what a boat would do. The captain was an experienced racer and we flew a lot of cloth (to much for anything other than a racer). This raised my confidence level more than anything I had done at the time.

Fair Winds

[Carter Brey]

My CD 28 has the factory jiffy reefing hardware on the boom but I am unsure of exactly how to run the line. Does anyone have a good picture of what a correct jiffy reef looks like including the routing and tying off of the line?

This is the set-up on a boat made only weeks before yours:

There should be a pad-eye on the port side of the boom. The aft reefing line starts there, then runs up to and through a reef cringle on the leech, then runs down to and around a cheek block on the starboard side, and then runs forward and is fastened to a cleat on the starboard side of the boom.

There also should be a pad-eye on the port side of the mast. The forward reefing line starts there, then runs up to and through a reef cringle on the luff, and then runs down and is fastened to a cleat on the starboard side of the mast.

The forward reef line also doubles as a Cunningham if you have an extra cringle in the luff.

Finally, there should be reef gaskets knotted in the sail. If you have a bolt-rope on the foot of your main, these tie under the boom. If you have slugs on the foot of your main, or a loose footed main, these tie under the sail and above the boom. These are mostly for appearances so it is o.k. to leave them untied for a while if winds or seas are making things a little hairy at a given moment

Cape Dory made no provision for a separate aft reefing line for the second set of reef points. To achieve this, you need a second set of everything, pad-eye, cheek block and cleat, each mounted somewhat forward of the corresponding piece of existing hardware. You can also just move the existing aft reefing line up to the second reef cringle in the leech but that is hard to do on the fly in double-reef weather and may not bring the clew all the way down to the boom. You do not really need a second forward reefing line as that one is easy to move on the fly.

It's a good idea to fit a second set of cleats forward on the boom to belay the reefing lines when they're in use.

Cordially,
Carter